90% Reduction in Crime Needed

* Your May 6 article (“Violent Crime Down in O.C., U.S. in 1995”) implies that our crime situation, both local and national, is looking good and that the public worries too much about it because lurid media coverage exaggerates the problem. That is an insult to our intelligence. The media isn’t nearly sensational enough. The fact is that for many decades our crime rate has been disastrous (see the figures in your own article) but the constant exposure has gradually inured people to it.

To stop worrying, we need at least a 90% drop and preferably a 95% drop in the crime rate, not the silly little momentary 8% you quoted. Of course that can never happen while we have our present crop of bleeding hearts and wimps, led by the media, making and interpreting our laws. The police try to enforce what little law we have but they don’t stand a chance because they are so few and helpless and because crime now pays so well.

I grew up in Detroit in the ‘20s and early ‘30s, when Prohibition, rumrunners, Dillinger types and the Mafia were making things rougher than they had been. But street crime and violence were, compared to today, almost nonexistent. It was certainly less than 10% of today’s rate. My mother could ride public transportation anywhere in town any time of the day or night with no concern for safety. Children of all ages could safely play outdoors until bedtime.

JOHN HAMAKER

Laguna Niguel